1/2 cup chopped peaches or other stone or berry fruit. (I used bits of white peach from homemade freezer jam that I just thawed out from last summer.)1/3 cup almonds, slivered or chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Sift powdered sugar, almonds and flour into a large bowl. Add rosemary and whisk to combine. Pour in egg whites, beating with the whisk or a large spoon until they are well mixed. The batter will be wetter than you'd expect, moderately thick and slightly elastic. Pour in melted butter and stir until smoothly blended without any butter separating from the batter. Stir in vanilla extract.

Fill the well-greased depressions of a regular-sized muffin plaque (financier, barquette, madeleine or mini muffin sizes also work) almost to the rim with batter. Place on center oven rack to bake for 7 minutes. Carefully remove hot tin from oven and set on a heat-proof surface. Divide and arrange fruit and almonds on top of each friand, slightly pressing the toppings into the partially unset centers. Return plaque to oven. Reduce heat to 400 degrees F and continue baking another 7 minutes. Turn off heat to let them set in cooling oven for a final 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and lift cakes out as soon as they are cool enough to handle. Place them on a rack to complete cooling. Makes 12, or more if using the smaller aforementioned tins. Store in a tightly sealed tin or plastic container. --

* Friands are nearly indistinguishable from French financiers, the small, ultra-rich, moist and dense ground nut and butter cakes with their burnished, chewy crusts. They are wildly popular in the U.K. and Australia, often enhanced with fruit, and baked in oval muffin-like tins. I have yet to find this shape anywhere in the U.S. (despite several good sources for professional bakeware), and have used our typical round ones instead.

The round-up will be online tomorrow, June 1, New York time. Do stop back for a taste of everything. I welcome late arrivals should some posts come to me after the deadline. Thanks always for your wonderful recipes!

Since its early days, WHB has undergone various fine tunings. For those new to WHB or old friends returning to the table, the current requirements can be found here in full. With the broad choice of any fruit, vegetable, herb, edible plant and flower, it's nearly impossible to pick just one. I think I've narrowed it down to rosemary, myself. What will you come up with?

The round-up will be posted Monday, June 1, New York time. I look very forward to your creative and tempting recipes. Thank you in advance! Happy cooking, baking and cocktail shaking!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

When does "soon" become "later," and "later" become "whenever," and "whenever" become the dreaded "never"?

Have you ever suffered from the dual bains of boredom and procrastination, where nothing excites your fancy and nearly everything feels a chore? I would have thought it was just me, except for the recent confessions of Sra and Cynthia, and the resonating comments each of their posts provoked. Apparently, there is something in the water.

After a lovely and desperately necessary spring break away from blogging, and with the best intentions to charge forward with renewed vigor earlier this month, I have found myself living almost exclusively in my head as far as blog posting is concerned: pondering ideas, developing recipes and envisioning photo compositions, but hardly executing any edibles worth a nibble, let alone writing about and presenting them as the best I can offer. Once I finally got cracking in the kitchen, a string of absurdly comical, almost cosmic, failures threatened to distance me further from that "slew of recipes" I had alluded to in an earlier post.

The only saving grace was a ravishingly salty and sassy jolt of fresh salsa, so good that I scarfed it down before I could artistically arrange it in a bowl. So very good, in fact, that I made it a second time, and, again, scarfed it down before I could get it into that bloody bowl. It is said by fairies, elves and other supernatural types that the third time is the charm. Well, it's true, and it had better be; that something in the water was beginning to taste suspiciously of Kool-Aid.

Black Turtle Beans

Tomatillos

Black Bean, Tomatillo and Green Olive Salsa – My own recipe

[While I like a moderately smoky fire-roasted flavor, you might prefer to char all the tomatillos, or forgo the process entirely. It is a matter of individual taste.]

Husk and rinse tomatillos under warm water, gently rubbing off their sticky residue with a paper towel. With the tip of a sharp knife, cut out the stem ends and discard them. With long-handled tongs, hold half the tomatillos, one at a time, over a stove burner flame to char the skin, turning them frequently until they are blistered and begin to collapse. [A well-ventilated kitchen will prevent setting off your smoke alarm.] Cut all the tomatillos into quarters and add to water or vegetable stock in a large saucepan. Bring contents to boil, then lower heat to simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatillos are soft but still holding some shape. The mixture will be very watery. Leave to cool while you prepare the remaining ingredients.

Over low heat, warm the oil in a skillet, then add the onion and garlic, stirring frequently to brown evenly. Do not let the onions become very soft; you want to retain some crunchiness. Remove from skillet onto separate holding dish. Stem and slice the peppers. You can use them raw or shrink and blister the slices briefly in the skillet. I find raw peppers are much hotter on the tongue.

Pour tomatillos and their liquid into a blender or food processor, pulsing a few times to unify the texture without turning it into purée; leave it somewhat chunky. Pour into a large bowl, then add all remaining ingredients, stirring gently to mix without breaking the beans. The salsa will appear too runny for dipping chips into. Cover and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for a few hours to allow the flavors to develop. During this time, the starch from the beans will thicken the excess liquid. Stir gently. Taste for salt, adding it incrementally from the shaker or as small spoonfuls of olive brine. Stir again and garnish with whole cilantro leaves. Serve with tortilla chips, corn bread or corn sticks. Better second or even third day, if you can keep away from it that long.

Thanks, dear Astra! There are many bloggers whose work I admire and enjoy for a number of reasons, too many to count. A few quickly come to mind, but cannot be considered a comprehensive list. No one is obligated to take up the tag; let your time, energy and interest guide you. Here's to Soma, Gabe and Lyndsey, Venus, Ramki, and Christine. I will acknowledge more awards and memes in coming posts. Thanks so much for the continued kudos.

* Bears Repeating: I do not receive free nor discounted goods/services from any enterprise. All prizes offered are at my personal expense without commercial influence. Any references to products, brands or retailers, whether to further a story line or direct a reader to additional information, are made at my independent discretion.

I cook and bake in that cute little galley kitchen up there. It's not as tidy as it used to be, and the walls are a deep tagine red now, but it's a cozy, homey space where you are always welcome to drop in. You can reach me at thewellseasonedcook AT yahoo DOT com. I'd be delighted to hear from you.